Stocks Dip as Several Big-Name Tech Stocks Slide

U.S. equity markets pared gains and slumped into the red on Monday as shares of several high-profile tech players came under pressure.

Today's Markets

As of 3:30 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.7 points, or 0.09%, to 16317, the S&P 500 declined 4.5 points, or 0.24%, to 1862 and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 38.7 points, or 0.91%, to 4237.

The markets capped a turbulent trading week to the upside last week, with the broad S&P 500 advancing 1.4%. The pace was expected to slow on Monday, with few major U.S. economic events on the calendar.

Several big-name technology players came under pressure on the day, knocking the Nasdaq down sharply. Among the names were Google (GOOG), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Yahoo! (YHOO).

Traders were greeted with a report from HSBC showing China's vast manufacturing sector contracted more quickly in March than it did in February. The PMI gauge dipped to 48.1 from 48.5, confounding expectations of a rise to 48.7.

"Weakness is broadly based with domestic demand softening further. We expect Beijing to launch a series of policy measures to stabilize growth," Hongbin Qu, HSBC's chief China economist wrote in a note to clients.

Economists at Barclays added that "we now see downside risks to our growth forecasts."

In corporate news, Apple (AAPL) is reportedly considering teaming up with Comcast (CMCSA) to make set-top boxes. Herbalife (HLF) plans on nominating a group of three directors picked by activist investor Carl Icahn. Cisco (CSCO) said it would invest $1 billion over the next two years in creating the world's biggest network of clouds in a bid to continue pressing on with its Internet of Everything mantra.

Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures climbed 40 cents, or 0.4%, to $99.86 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline rose 0.46% to $2.921 a gallon. Gold dipped $11.20, or 0.84%, to $1,325 a troy ounce.